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If you are determined to win but have more motivation than money, Think Fast is the book for you. In it, Neil Roberts shows how to overcome your competitors' bigger budgets and finish ahead of them. This book is not about technology, but rather the reasons behind choosing some technologies over others in the quest to win. Think Fast is a professional racing industry insider's detailed description of his unique process that makes drivers and their cars faster. The book has two sections: Fast Fundamentals and Fast Physics. Fast Fundamentals presents the short list of most important challenges faced by the racer and includes an extensive discussion about each. Fast Physics is more technically oriented and presents hundreds of lessons learned, engineering concepts, tips and tricks that have never before been revealed in print. This unique book is for automotive racers and those who want to better understand the racing mindset.

This paper presents the design process resulting from the compressed design and build program of the Swift 016.a Champ Car Atlantic race car, highlighting particular items of interest in the stylistic, aerodynamic, and mechanical design of the vehicle. Although the new engine produced 25% more power than its predecessor, the vehicle sale price constraint was reduced by 39%. The cost and time constraints presented challenges to the design of a vehicle that was required to outperform the previous generation car. In only 226 calendar days, 40 open wheel race cars were designed, manufactured, and delivered, setting a historical precedent within the auto racing industry.

This paper describes upgrades to the Swift 8’ by 9’ rolling-road wind tunnel that will be available for use in 2003. The Swift tunnel was originally commissioned in 1994. Since then it has been used extensively for development of Champ cars, Formula-1 cars, Winston Cup cars, NHRA Funny cars, and OEM cars. As racing technology has advanced, new features were explored to stay ahead of demand. Design of the upgrades began in 2001. The specific objectives were to provide all possible motions “on-the-fly.” Such a capability significa ntly improves productivity for car development. This required new data acquisition and tunnel control systems for the added degrees-of-freedom. A Sting mount was selected to add full motion and offer reduced aero interference with the model. A proprietary mechanism provides 30° of pitch and yaw in a very slender structure. The Sting can be used alone, or in combination with the existing Strut.

This paper describes the design process used to create the Swift 014.a for the CART Toyota Atlantic Championship Series. This series is devoted to developing the next generation of drivers, engineers, and mechanics, as part of the CART Ladder System. The Atlantic series is the highest development rung in the ladder. The educational aspect of the series is reflected in the design features of the 014.a. Special attention was paid to reliability, durability, maintainability, predictability, and documentation. The new 014.a is a descendent of the Swift 008.a. Many aspects of the 008.a were retained to allow 008.a operators to use 014.a parts. The car was redesigned using practices developed for Swift ChampCars. Unlike many ‘spec’ racecars, the 014.a is thoroughly documented for the racer. Each car comes with a complete parts manual, gearbox manual, suspension guide and aerodynamics manual.